A belated (not quite) happy birthday to us

October 18, 2023

You've got this

Well we’re a year older, most definitely wiser and certainly bruised from the year that has been 2019/2020. It has seen us lose our mum in March 2019, nearly losing our sister to a rare blood infection a month after (mercifully she recovered) and then losing dad in September this year. All in all, it has well and truly been a hammer blow to our spirits. As brothers and sister, we have to be grateful we’re and other we love and care for are  still here (and we are), and we know it could be so much worse and we’re eternally thankful it isn’t. But our usual bright and sunny personalities have taken a battering.

Watches wise it’s also been a rollercoaster. We announced plans to reveal a tie-up with a brand ambassador only for them to pull-out at the eleventh hour. We picked ourselves up and re-wrote the plan again this time without them and then Covid-19 happened, and the world very literally stopped.

People that know us or listened to the interview with Scottish Watches will know that outside of watches we have regular jobs to support ourselves and families. Unfortunately, I lost my job during lockdown (Bruno kept his), and picked up temp work here and there to keep going and pay the bills. But even though we had hard times personally we looked on in admiration and clapped in honour and recognition of the brilliant, tireless and inspiring work carers, doctors, nurses, porters, and more were doing for us all.

For our part we wanted to do something to say thank you, so setup a watch raffle with some other watch brands. Donations came in from across the UK, but also from the US, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Norway and France. In the end together we raised over £1,500 for the staff at our local NHS of South Warwickshire. We’re proud that we manged to reach people across the world who were willing to help and we were able to give something back.

Despite lockdown and job losses and in hindsight perhaps bullishly, we chose to plough on with launching our second design. It didn’t go as smoothly or as we’d planned to be honest. As the saying goes though, everyday is a school day and looking at what went wrong helps us learn and be the better for it. In our case we need to be better at marketing ourselves the watches and timing. 

So we didn’t have the blockbuster we wanted, but the pre-order campaign we ran through our website was backed by enough people to get a small production underway – really looking forward to getting them in hand and off to their new homes!

So what’s next for the brothers from MAALS?

We’re in the planning and designing phase, using what we’ve learnt feedback gained over the last two watches and putting it to good use. A range of watches is on the horizon instead of standalone models. We’re thinking longer term and building accordingly and are actively looking for potential investors to speak to, to help us grow and realise our ambitions. We have some far-reaching ideas – including advanced additive manufacturing – that’s 3D printing to everyone else.

It’s been a hell of a hard year, actually 18 months. We’ve been badly knocked down, but we’re certainly not out and in the words of our recently departed mum & dad, “While there is the will and breath inside you, we know you’ll find a way”.

Thanks for supporting, helping, praising and raising us to be who we are today. We miss and love you both.

Forever your kids x

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